Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said she will vote for Democrat House candidate Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) over Republican challenger Sarah Palin.
“Yeah, I am,” Murkowski responded when asked by the Anchorage Daily News if she would back Peltola in the race.
“Mary is a friend,” she continued.
“We have been friends for 25 years, and the fact that we’re Republican and Democrat has never interfered with that friendship.”
According to Breitbart, “Alaska’s ranked-choice general election and open primary system works like this: All candidates from all parties appear on the ballot together in the August primary.
“The top four vote-getters regardless of party then advance to the general election, and their voters are given the opportunity to pick their top choice, as well as their second and third choices.
“If no candidate in the first round of voters’ first choices gets 50 percent of the vote, the last place candidate’s second choices are distributed across the remaining three candidates to see if someone can get across the majority threshold.
“If that fails again to produce a majority vote-getter, then a third round is conducted where the third place candidate’s votes are redistributed according to second choices between the remaining two candidates.”
Palin ripped Murkowski over her decision, telling local media: “She’s voting for the Democrat in my race so I don’t win.
“That’s what I’m up against, Steve!”
Meanwhile, Alaska’s Republican Party took the extraordinary step of voting to censure Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for backing a series of attack ads against Trump-endorsed GOP Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka.
Trump is backing Tshibaka against incumbent Sen. Murkowski.
“Much of the financial support from the Senate Leadership Fund has been used for malicious political attack ads targeted at our endorsed candidate, Kelly Tshibaka, that are gross distortions of fact,” the resolution reads.
“We request the Senate Leadership Fund immediately stop the attack ads against Kelly Tshibaka and discontinue the support of all other opposing candidates.”
The resolution passed by a 49-8 vote according to The Hill.
According to FactCheck.org, some of the ads aired in the race have been misleading, including one saying Tshibaka wants to ban birth control by mail.
Kelly said at the time:
“Let’s address the biggest lie first – her outrageous claim that I support banning the sale of birth control pills through the mail.
“I and members of my family are among the millions of American women who have taken birth control pills.
“I do not support restricting their sale through the mail or otherwise. Investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in an ad campaign will not change that fact.
“The deceptive ads rely on video taken out of context from one of my many town halls, when I was answering questions about abortion and other topics.
“Pills that induce abortions should not be confused with regular birth control pills that prevent pregnancies.”
“The millions of dollars Mitch McConnell is spending on lies about me could be put to better use in other states where a Republican has a chance to beat a Democrat,” Tshibaka said Monday.
“And the Alaska Republican Party has just told him to butt out of our state.”
“Lisa Murkowski cares more about her standing in D.C. social circles than she does about the people in Alaska she’s supposed to represent,” Tshibaka added.
Just imagine what the Senate map would like like if Mitch McConnell wanted to win every possible seat, instead of playing favorites and settling petty scores pic.twitter.com/8MVPfXmNoq
— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) October 25, 2022
Alaska GOP Censures Mitch McConnell For Supporting Incumbent GOP Senator Over Trump-Backed Candidate https://t.co/mAoEdFQNA1
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) October 25, 2022
